Nick Saban: "It's a little unrealistic to think that everything's always going to run smoothly."

Alabama coach Nick Saban spoke today for the final time before tomorrow's Allstate Sugar Bowl at a news conference that also included Utah's Kyle Whittingham. There was nothing earth-shattering from Saban, which there didn't figure to be since we've spoken to him a whole bunch this week.

But there were some nuggets of info:

Saban, on if the Andre Smithsituation put a stain on the bowl experience: "Well, it's disappointing any time you have a circumstance like this. It's unfortunate. But everybody has a responsibility to do what's right. Any time anybody violates their Code of Conduct, their principles and values of what is right, there's consequences that aren't as positive. But I think that it's a little unrealistic to think that everything's always going to run smoothly. It's a challenge to overcome that adversity. It will be interesting to see how our team responds to that."

Saban, on possible staff changes for next season: "It's probably inevitable that there will be some change. Continuity is great. But also when you do have change, there are some tremendous benefits to that in terms of new experience, new ideas, new enthusiasm."

Saban, on if this bowl game needs to be a springboard for next season, as it was last year: "I think the circumstances are entirely different now. The challenge of playing a game after you lost a game certainly is something that great teams can do, and do well. That's a challenge for our team. But it's going to be important for this team to remember what they did to have success and be willing to make a commitment to that to duplicate those kinds of efforts in the future, not lose sight of the process, not be satisfied with what was accomplished. We're going to have to have a little different approach to be able to continue to grow and develop the culture of success we want to have and the standard of excellence we're trying to aspire to."

Saban, on being named national coach of the year by multiple organizations: "I think these awards are for all of us in our organization, and it shouldn't be specific to one particular person. My reaction to it is I think these should be Team of the Year awards, "team" being everybody associated with our organization. We have a high standard of what we want to try to aspire to, me personally as well as everyone in the organization. Everyone in the organization has contributed in a positive way. The coaching staff has done a phenomenal job. All the people in support roles have done a phenomenal job. The players have done a phenomenal job."

Saban, on whether his players will overlook Utah: "I don't think (the reporter asking the question -- not me) have the proper respect for the team that we're playing. But it's only because they don't have a big name, play in a big name conference. But they have good football players that have beaten big name teams from big name conferences this year. Our players need to respect that and understand what they're going to need to do to play and try to dominate the guy they play against for every play."